Life & Death

The labor of the righteous leads to life, the wages of the wicked to sin. -Proverbs 10:16

Does today’s Proverb sound familiar to you? It sure sounds a lot like a New Testament verse that is often quoted by Christians. Consider this famous verse in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now compare that with today’s Proverb, “The labor of the righteous leads to life, the wages of the wicked to sin.” The key word in both of these verses is “wages”. Just like today, a wage is a result of what you do. Nothing has changed. From the Old Testament, to the New Testament, until this day, we still get what we have coming. Whether good for good or bad for bad, we will reap what we sow.

This simple concept is a foundational element to Christianity. Paul, the same writer of Romans, writes to the church at Galatia, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”(Galatians 6:7-8) Over and over again we are warned and encouraged (depending on what you are sowing) to be sure that it is going to bear something. We are either putting good things into our lives that will build us into something that He can use or we are putting bad things into our lives that will cause corruption. Just so you know, there isn’t a middle ground. Choosing not to put the good things of God into your life will be just as disastrous as leaving perishables on the counter when they need to be in the fridge. We have a purpose and if we neglect Him by neglecting “The labor of the righteous”, we will reap “The wages of the wicked to sin.”